Viscous compositions in the form of cleaning and skin care products have increased in popularity in recent years due in part to the reduced amount of packaging needed for the compositions which are typically in the concentrated form. In particular, there has been a recent increase in the interest of viscous hard surface cleaners and specifically dish washing detergents and hand soaps. These viscous compositions are often in the form of thick pastes, gels, lotions and slurries which can be easy to use but are sometimes difficult to dispense. The conventional dispensing devices for these viscous compositions include squeeze bottles having a dispensing outlet or wide mouth open jars and containers.
The flexible squeeze bottles are effective for dispensing quantities of certain compositions but have the disadvantage of allowing the viscous material to slump to the bottom of the bottle. It can then become difficult to dispense the composition when only a small amount remains in the bottle. Furthermore, the viscous nature of the composition allows it to adhere to the sides of the bottle thereby increasing the difficulty of dispensing the remaining material.
Open wide mouth containers typically require the user to directly place the fingers or implement such as a sponge, dish cloth, or facial towel into the viscous composition. The composition adheres to the fingers or implement so that it can be applied to the intended surface. This method of dispensing the viscous composition often results in an uncontrollable amount of the composition adhering to the fingers or implement. This is particularly so where the composition is very thick or sticky such that the thickness of the composition on the fingers or implement is thick regardless of the amount of pressure applied to the composition. Furthermore, dirt or other material on the fingers or implement can be transferred to the container thereby contaminating the remaining portion of the composition.
Efforts have been made to overcome the above-noted disadvantages of dispensing viscous materials. One example is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,148,951 to Moure et al. The disclosed dispensing package includes a container for the product and a dispensing sheet that rests on and adheres to the surface of the product. The dispensing sheet is a flexible, resilient sheet material that is sufficiently flexible to conform to the shape of the container. A plurality of holes are included in the dispensing sheet. In use, one applies pressure to the dispensing sheet to force the material through the holes. This device, however, is not entirely effective in that an overpressure can be easily applied to the dispensing sheet resulting in an excessive amount of material being dispensed. In addition, water, dirt or other debris from the finger or implement can be transferred to the dispensing sheet which will ultimately result in contamination of the material remaining in the container.
There is accordingly a continuing need for a dispensing container for delivering a controlled amount of a viscous material without adulteration of the material in the container.